Tips for Maximizing Extra Time you may have during the Week after Christmas

The week after Christmas, as a member of the world and like your fellow beings, you will be a little bummed out. The much awaited time period of the year passes away instantly, and all you are left with is a bunch of decorations to take down. Soon you crawl back to your routine life and try to deal with the extra pounds that you gained, the bills that you need to pay off and so on.

You must be familiar with the post Christmas blues, but as an entrepreneur, you have to snap yourself out of this mental distress. This can be a good time period to be in the lead and undertake some tasks that might need your attention.
The offices during this time are generally half full, with majority of the workforce in a holiday mode. Those who plan to join the office earlier on find it difficult to deal with projects that require team work. Others might be bored out of their minds in a time where work progress comes to a halt. The population that contributes to the half that fills the office will often find themselves staring at the clock and counting hours minutes and seconds, anticipating the time to check out.

Being Efficient

You can do a lot during this time, when the work load is as light as a feather. As an entrepreneur, once you leave behind the post Christmas blues, utilize the week after Christmas and try to do some or all of the following:

Understand the Work Graph

When you go back to school after summer holidays, it takes time to get back into the study mode. Teachers also show lenience and do not give you homework right away. Similarly, when you get back to work after holidays, it takes time to mentally adjust back into your work mould.
The work graph indicates why this happens. Having a positive gradient, the graph rises slowly and gradually. On the x-axis you will have days back into work and on the y-axis you will have performance and energy. When you return to work, your graph is at its lowest point with both the variables. As the days pass by, your energy and performance sees a rise. Therefore, with an early start, you will be way ahead with your work graph. By the time other businesses step back into their offices, you will already be working at a good pace.

Revamping

So it’s the end of the year, you have gotten back to work early to be ahead of other businesses, and you think you don’t have much to do? Well, give yourself a new look. If you have a website, go through it; see if it needs any editions. If you sell a product, change its cover and give it a new color theme. Go through your mission statement once again, what do you advocate? Do your products and your services represent your values? We are not recommending a major overhaul of your enterprise; however, this is the perfect time to make the changes that need to be made.

Buy More, Save More

By the end of every year you will have a good idea of where your business stands. Based on this analysis only, you will be able to see whether your business made a profit or not. Accordingly, you can plan promotional and sale schemes. Try to attract customers by putting your product or service on a sale or introduce coupons for customers to avail opportunities. The more creatively you plan on feeding the buy-more-save-more mentality, the higher your sales will be.

Be Available

You are working to expand your customer base; therefore, it will be a good idea to actively involve yourself in the procedure. You returned after good long holidays, check your email and answer queries that have been sitting unchecked. Additionally, if you plan on introducing promotional and sale schemes, your customers might have several questions for you to answer.

Importance of Employees

Immediately after the holidays, the workload is low. Utilize this free time to attain feedback from your employees. No one can know and understand your business better than those who nourish it every day. Conducting interviews or filling out forms can be two effective methods of attaining feedback.

Give Back

Starting with your own employees, give back. Welcome them at a good note to increase their morale and motivation. During this time period of low workload and almost nonexistent sales, keep your workforce going by promising them a bonus during the busy months.
Secondly, give back to your customers. Use emails and send them wishes, thanking them for contributing to your business. Connect with your customers and make them feel important. There are several businesses that keep a track record of their regular customers. You can also send out emails at the end of every year to your top three customers, offering them special services. This encourages loyalty and also motivates others to buy your services or products.
You might have other ideas to make this time worthwhile. While you may be a little down, it is best to jump into work and start being more productive than ever.

About Brad Adams

Brad is the founder of Renegade Entrepreneur. An experienced entrepreneur and executive, he is one of the most sought after consultants, coaches and speakers for entrepreneurs, business owners and senior executives.
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